On Turning 65

Leonardo da Vinci, Studies of an Old Man and a Youth, c. 1500-1505

A while ago, on January 2, 2011, I wrote a reflection piece called Reverse Resolutions – 11 Reflections on 2011. I suppose it’s normal to reflect like this on days of passage and that would include a 65^th birthday.  It’s hard to believe that last article was 10 years ago already, but so that goes as we age as well. Don’t worry, I’m not going to burden you, dear reader, with 65 reflections on the occasion, but taking stock of a few things is not a bad idea from time to time.   These are not resolutions or revelations that I woke up one morning realizing after an epiphany – it’s just things I’ve been thinking about lately.

The Sound of Metal and Me

I watched Sound of Metal last night, guessing I might see parts of myself in it. It had a number of interesting angles for me. First, the main character, Riz Ahmed as Ruben Stone, is the drummer in a loud, intense and thrashing band, and then of course the fact that he goes almost deaf literally overnight and then completely deaf when he has cochlear implants surgically inserted. I have profound hearing loss but I’m not deaf and it didn’t happen overnight.

Podcast with Drunk Ex-Pastors

About a year ago I got a message from Christian, who asked if I’d be interested in being interviewed for their podcast, Drunk Ex-Pastors. Well, that name alone…!. We exchanged messages over several months…

“We have a lot of listeners who are struggling as they come out of religion. My co-host is Catholic but we both lost a lot leaving evangelicalism behind.

Episode 103: Ethics, Morality, and America with Ojo Taylor

In April of 2017 I had a long conversation about my journey out of Christianity with Steve Hackman that ended up in two installments of his fantastic podcast series, Beyond the Pale. We recently had a follow-up conversation that went beyond those basics – pretty far beyond.

Balance of Power on Vinyl – A Story

We are just over a week away from the close of a Kickstarter campaign to reissue Balance of Power on vinyl and other formats, and LOTS of bonus material. Whether we make the goal or not, I wanted to make this brief history of the bonus material available. Thanks for reading and your support!

The songs and recordings that are being offered as bonus material on the re-issue of Undercover’s Balance of Power album (if we make the goal) have shown up in various ways, in different formats and arrangements and even by different bands. What follows is a brief history of those recordings and how and where they ended up where they did, as best I can remember. I’m pretty sure we have never written or publicly talked about parts of this history, so here goes.

Farewell, Dave Gibson

Tattooing and the human race lost a giant today in Dave Gibson who died unexpectedly only 7 months after losing the love of his life, Debbie, his wife of 28 years. He had just returned from Catalina island where he was spreading Debbie’s ashes. His loss will be felt much wider than those he inked.

My Mailbag: Christ, Liberation & Happiness

Ojo: I have a couple questions. In your search to be free and happy where does the person of Christ stand and His cross, His death and resurrection. This was not covered in your blog.

Conversations on Hell

Herrad of Landsberg (Alsatian, c. 1130 – 1195): Hell, from Hortus Deliciarum

It’s very clear that the afterlife and what it may look like means many different things to many different believers. Some have worked through the immorality that comes with belief in hell and the many other problems associated with it

“Ojo Taylor Returns”: Interview #2 in Down The Line

One of the most widely-read posts on my little site is the first interview I did for Down The Line magazine in 2010 where I publicly discussed not being able to accept the tenets of any version of Christianity any longer.  In 2017 I was approached by Doug Peterson to do a follow-up interview, published in July, 2017.  Here is that interview. 

The Bitter Truth Podcast

I had this really fun discussion with longtime friend and musical troublemaker Abe Abdelhadi, wherein we liken leaving religion to death by a thousand paper cuts while increasing compassion for those we strongly disagree with.  We also consider the critically important ways to sprinkle correctly pigeon blood while asking, “This is the book we get?!”